Sweet Spot

             Sometimes articles, blogs, and sermon prep seems to come easy. It like a quiet conversation where all the information and parts and pieces just come together in simple and peaceful harmony. That is no doubt a Divine time.

               And at other times none of it comes easy. This column has been the latter. After a day of starting and stopping with different ideas that all dead ended by the third paragraph, today I took a trip downtown to one of my favorite stores, Mauk’s. Of course I love the merchandise in Mauk’s, but I also love the people there too.

               And while sitting on the world’s most comfortable couch talking with Mary Ann about church, mission trips, and children, she recalled a time her daughter had asked her, “do you think God has a sweet spot for me?”   

               And there it was.

               The Sweet Spot.

               What a beautiful picture, right? I played baseball when I was younger so the thought of the Sweet Spot automatically brought me back to those swings that connected with the pitch and you didn’t even feel the ball hit the bat. Yeah, that was the Sweet Spot.

               I have heard golfers talk about that Sweet Spot when teeing off the perfect drive. Even tennis players have a sweet spot between ball and racquet.

               And when you think about it, we do too. Not a sweet spot where you pack on a few extra pounds from your love of red velvet cake, but a Divine Sweet Spot. A holy place in your soul, where when met with a holy activity, results in a perfected driven purpose.

               Most people I know live their lives looking for their sweet spot. But I don’t think we find it by looking for it.

               “For I know the plans I have you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (Jeremiah 29:11)

               “You (Lord) created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb”. (Psalm 139:13)

               “I (God) will sustain you, I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you”. (Isaiah 46:4)

               “And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. (Romans 8:28)

               And the list of verses could go on and on. Reminders and promises of God’s abiding presence, love and direction.

               We find it in connection with doing, serving, loving, and being the created being the Creator created us to be.

And where and when this all meets in us, when our life (our daily, ordinary, working and walking, eating and playing, average life) meets our Sweet Spot (that Divine-infused, holy purpose-filled and love driven, resolute tenacity of our core true being) then we are living with holy purpose.

In 2005 Max Lucado published a book entitled “Cure for the Common Life”. If you feel that you aren’t living life in your Sweet Spot, I would recommend this book to you. Perhaps you need to really understand yourself, who you are in light of the One who created you. Or perhaps you need to re-evaluate what you are doing, or maybe why you are doing it. Perhaps it is your motives, perhaps it is your heart.

But once you find and live into your Sweet Spot, I promise that you will know it.

“I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly”—Jesus. (John 10:10)

And that abundant life is found in your Sweet Spot.

Time Capsule Reflections

May is once again going to be a busy month for me. We have had our community spring revival week and National Day of Prayer. I have plans made for church trips in June. I am registered for classes I need to take this fall. And school is out in a couple of weeks for summer. That’s always a pretty big deal around my house. But this year the month of May marks another pretty big deal: High School Graduation.

               My second oldest will graduate from David Crockett High School this month.

“Two down/three to go”, I tell my wife. But the reality is that this is both exciting and sad, relieving and frightening. We have produced another adult that is heading into the world. I hope we did well. I think we did all we could do, even if we didn’t at times do all that we should have done.

So this has got me thinking about when I graduated high school. I have also read these blog posts of great writers and modern day theologians of what they would tell their younger selves if they could. Of course they can’t, but the whole idea of being able to go back in time, or write a letter that your 18 year old self would discover in an old show box, is a fascinating idea. That’s the stuff good B-movies are made out of.

But maybe if we knew what we would write to our younger self to advise or warn about, maybe that would help us in what needs to be said now to the young men and women who are graduating high school this month. Maybe we do have some tips (other than ‘don’t eat the yellow snow’ or ‘pull my finger’) that would actually be helpful.

When I was younger I spent a lot of time making things more complicated than they had to be. As I get older I spend more time trying to keep it simple. Because what matters really is just that, simple. In 2010 United Methodist bishop Reuben Job published a small little book based on John Wesley’s General Rules entitled “Three Simple Rules; A Wesleyan Way of Living”.

So I have been thinking about my 18 year old self in this context. What would I say to myself? I have seen Huffington Post articles such as “52 Things I would tell my Younger Self”. First off I know that it would have be to short and sweet, 52 things is waaayyyy to many,  my 18 year old self didn’t have a very long attention span, in fact my 40 year old self...wait a minute, I forgot what I was going to say…

Maybe keeping it to 3 things is a good idea. And maybe that Wesleyan list is a pretty solid place to start. Here are a few things I would tell my younger past myself, and so perhaps would also offer up to our graduates today, for what it’s worth. Here are my time-capsule reflections:

·        Do no harm.

Don’t do harm to yourself. Just because someone tells you it’ll make you feel good doesn’t mean that you have to drink it, smoke it, snort it, or swallow it. Don’t do harm to others. You don’t always have to say exactly what it is on your mind at every moment. Your words have consequences. Don’t harm the world. It’s been here a long time, and God willing it will be here a long time after you are gone, so take care of it.  Your actions have consequences.  Smile and laugh.

·        Do good.

Every day do something good for yourself. You are a special creation. Take care of yourself. Enjoy that second helping of red velvet cake, just take a little extra time tonight to go walking, make that a habit every day. And when you walk enjoy this amazing creation that you are part of, and pray. Talk to God. He really does hear every thought, trust me I know that now from experience. Do good to others. It’s the little things that matter and that you will remember. Call for no reason. Drop by to visit. Help out when you are asked without making excuses. One day you might get married and have children. Play with your children every day, hug them every day, and tell them you love them every day. Kiss your spouse many times every day, and have a date night every week. Be fun to be around, nothing is really worth being miserable over, no matter how it seems at the time.

·        Love God.

This is the crux of it all. I realize this now. The job, house, car, vacations weren’t the main things. Even the family, as much as you love them, isn’t the main thing. The main thing is your relationship with God. A relationship based on reciprocated love. You will get to a point where you really do enjoy reading your Bible, this will be a time you treasure during the day. So go ahead and get into the habit of it now, just one verse a day. Some habits aren’t all that bad. Find a church where you feel like family and get involved by doing some of those good things we were talking about. This is important because you can’t do this life thing alone, and God has put other people around you to help you, love you, and care for you.

And finally, don’t do the mullet and parachute pants. It’ really not a good fashion idea. And those pictures will still be around 30 years later.